BIAB Pumpkin Ale?

Hey guys,
I do BIAB and am looking to do my first pumpkin ale. Was wondering if anyone had a good recipe and could explain any differences we have to use for BIAB? I have read some people mash it and others put it in the secondary, which way do you all say has the best results?

I did a BIAB Pumpkin ale last year. this time I'm skipping the pumpkin and just spicing it. unless you either (A) have a pulley setup to hold the bag while it drains or (B) have some serious arm strength that bag is going to be SLOW draining, even with a pound of rice hulls added. I used 3.6 lbs of pumpkin puree in mine and it convinced me to start using a pulley after damn near dropping that bag of hot wort a couple times.
as far as a recipe.... I used this one
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/samhain-pumpkin-ale-140674/

Never used rice hulls or wheat before. Do I have to mill these?

nope... just toss them in. they're only there to help with the draining. I would hate to think about not using them with pumpkin.

Sorry for the questions, but how does this help with draining? Will the rice be absorping extra water? What should the amount of water I use be? Can't figure it out on this calculator and my final volumes have been shorter then 5 gallons with this thing.

Rice hulls basically add more husk material to your mash preventing it from getting as gummy. Whenever I've used them I'll let them soak up some warm water before adding them, so they don't lower the mash temp as much and don't soak up any of the strike water.

I brewed the Samhain Pumpkin last year, it was amazing!

I brewed Reno_Envy's punkin ale about 10 days ago. Still in primary in the fermentation chamber. I followed his recipe exactly. Mysticmead is correct that sucker was heavy when I lifted it out of the water. I don't have a pulley system but I do use a "tie down" strap looped over a board on my 8' step ladder. Making this beer has made me seriously think about using a pulley so it will be easier to pull the basket, with bag, out of the water next time. It will most likely be a little safer using a pulley compared to the tie down strap.

How much warm water would you say a lb of rice hulls would require to soak? Also, do I need to soak the wheat too?

honestly, if you add the rice hulls to the total grain weight when determining your water needed, the absorption will be accounted for. also since it would be at the same temp as your grain, your strike temp will account for it as well. try not to over think the process to the point of accounting for every ounce of water. Just relax and brew the beer. you'll end up with an incredible beer that is perfect for the fall holidays. Oh yeah... eat something before brewing. Because once you add those spices the entire area around you will smell like a giant slice of pumpkin pie.

Doed said:

I brewed Reno_Envy's punkin ale about 10 days ago. Still in primary in the fermentation chamber. I followed his recipe exactly. Mysticmead is correct that sucker was heavy when I lifted it out of the water.

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+1

I brewed this last weekend and man was it heavy.

FWIW, on the thread for this recipe there are a few posts about folks doing it BIAB. I followed their suggestions and put the Libby's pumpkin puree in a separate bag and let it steep while the water was heating up to strike temp. It left it with a beautiful orange color. Then I just mashed as normal.

I also did not use rice hulls (I figured since I wasn't sparging like in a conventional all-grain batch, I didn't need them). I just used a really fine-mesh bag. Seemed to work out OK for me.

using a separate bag for the pumpkin would make things a LOT easier. lifting 3.65lbs with a little water is nothing compared to a full grain bag with a couple gallons of water

That sounds like an excellent idea. I will make sure to read more into that thread, it was just soooo long!

Hey guys, so I think I am going to use this recipe below. They other one sounds good, but I don't have two weeks for the toasted malt and my brew shop didnt carry the base malt. Spoke to the kid at the shop and he mentioned I might have a problem with the pumpkin in the BIAB. Anyone have any problems with this? He mentioned it might not come in enough contact with the mash.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/punkin-ale-145060/

Chris7687 said:

Hey guys, so I think I am going to use this recipe below. They other one sounds good, but I don't have two weeks for the toasted malt and my brew shop didnt carry the base malt. Spoke to the kid at the shop and he mentioned I might have a problem with the pumpkin in the BIAB. Anyone have any problems with this? He mentioned it might not come in enough contact with the mash.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/punkin-ale-145060/

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Hmmm.. lets see. I put the pumpkin in the same bag as the grain.. yep.. it had plenty of contact with the mash. that kid doesn't know what BIAB is does he?

as far as base grains. I used regular 2row as that was what I had on hand. I toasted some myself and used them the next day. the best thing about brewing is you can change the recipe to make it your own...

Chris7687 said:

Hey guys, so I think I am going to use this recipe below. They other one sounds good, but I don't have two weeks for the toasted malt and my brew shop didnt carry the base malt. Spoke to the kid at the shop and he mentioned I might have a problem with the pumpkin in the BIAB. Anyone have any problems with this? He mentioned it might not come in enough contact with the mash.

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Not sure what you mean by "enough contact". I brewed the same recipe. I baked the Libby's pumpkin filling at 350* for an hour. When I mashed, I added all my grains then added the baked pumpkin and stirred the mash until there were no dough balls. I BIAB'd this.

I haven't checked the beer yet so I can't comment on flavor at this point. I will most likely take a gravity reading this weekend to see where I'm at and taste it then.

Doed said:

I haven't checked the beer yet so I can't comment on flavor at this point. I will most likely take a gravity reading this weekend to see where I'm at and taste it then.

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Unless I am mistaken, the pumpkin doesn't really add much (any?) flavor anyway. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but I think most of the flavor comes from the spices.

People BIAB pumpkin beers every year -- I'd say give it a whirl.

Chris7687 said:

That sounds like an excellent idea. I will make sure to read more into that thread, it was just soooo long!

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A testament to the quality of the recipe, I'd say.

Thanks for the reassurance guys. Just rechecked the recipe and Reno-Envy used two packets of US-05, I didn't notice this and only got one. Do you guys think I'll be fine with one packet w/ no starter, or do you think I should run and grab another US-05?

Chris7687 said:

Thanks for the reassurance guys. Just rechecked the recipe and Reno-Envy used two packets of US-05, I didn't notice this and only got one. Do you guys think I'll be fine with one packet w/ no starter, or do you think I should run and grab another US-05?

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Get a second pack. Whole lot of sugar in this recipe.

Mr. Malty suggests 1.1 packets, so you wouldn't screw the pooch if you just pitched one. But yeah, like Doed said, you might as well just go grab another packet if you have a LHBS at hand.

FWIW, I always keep a few packets of Nottingham, US-05, S-04 around just in case. They're cheap, great, and will last forever in the fridge. Might be worth picking up a couple extra while you're out there!

For those brewing a 5.5g BIAB batch, what was your starting amount of water? I have the same grain bill a little different weights. 12.5# 2-Row, 1.5# Crystal 60, and 1# Victory. Beer Review Dude BIAB Calculator gives me a 8.4g strike water, but I calculated on another calculator (can't seem to find it now) and it gave me 9 gallons. I've been missing my 5.5 gallon amount lately, so I want to say the Beer Review Dude calculator is off but just wanted a second opinion. Not sure how to account for the pumpkin either; more, less, or the same water?

Secondly, When should I add the 1lb of brown sugar? The recipe calls for 60 min additions but I have read different opinions.

Chris7687 said:

For those brewing a 5.5g BIAB batch, what was your starting amount of water? I have the same grain bill a little different weights. 12.5# 2-Row, 1.5# Crystal 60, and 1# Victory. Beer Review Dude BIAB Calculator gives me a 8.4g strike water, but I calculated on another calculator (can't seem to find it now) and it gave me 9 gallons. I've been missing my 5.5 gallon amount lately, so I want to say the Beer Review Dude calculator is off but just wanted a second opinion. Not sure how to account for the pumpkin either; more, less, or the same water?

Secondly, When should I add the 1lb of brown sugar? The recipe calls for 60 min additions but I have read different opinions.

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it all depends on how much you boil off and if you squeeze the bag or not.

I use this formula
grain weight * .066 = absorption
batch size + absorption + boil off + trub loss = water needed

8 gallons but I squeeze the hell out of the bag and only lose .25 gallons to trub with a boil off of 1.25 gallons per hour. Adjust your numbers for your system. once you have a few under your belt you'll know what you need to adjust in the formula to get the numbers you need.

I guessed and brewed with 8 gallons, but came up short (probably fermented around 4.75 gal) -- rookie mistake, I'm still figuring out my new brew system. Depending on how rigorous a boil you do and the size of your pot, I might recommend going for the 9 gallons. As for the pumpkin, I didn't lose a lot of water there, it will drain out pretty well.

I went ahead and did the 60min addition for brown sugar. Since it was my first time brewing this recipe, I figured I would stay pretty close to the original.

Mysticmead said:

it all depends on how much you boil off and if you squeeze the bag or not.

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I should note that I was having crazy boil-control issues with this beer (my OG was way higher than I meant it to be -- I wish I could say it was because of my awesome efficiency ). This, plus the fact that it's hard to squeeze this much grain without some sort of pulley rig or something to help you out, is where I went awry and came up short. YMMV

kmos said:

I should note that I was having crazy boil-control issues with this beer (my OG was way higher than I meant it to be -- I wish I could say it was because of my awesome efficiency ). This, plus the fact that it's hard to squeeze this much grain without some sort of pulley rig or something to help you out, is where I went awry and came up short. YMMV

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use a second pot. place a veggie steamer or colander in it upside down. then use a lid that's small enough to fit inside the pot to press the grain bag or a cake rack or bbq grill grate (never used for cooking) over the brew pot and then using a lid to press the grain bag works too

Mysticmead said:

use a second pot. place a veggie steamer or colander in it upside down. then use a lid that's small enough to fit inside the pot to press the grain bag or a cake rack or bbq grill grate (never used for cooking) over the brew pot and then using a lid to press the grain bag works too

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This is why I love HBT -- Thank you, sir! I will put it in action this weekend!

Great thread with plenty of ideas/lessons & timely too. I'm going to brew a pumkin ale this weekend after having gathered the ingredients.

Think I'll go with 9 gallons to be safe. Mystic I do that, set my grain bag in the "steamer basket" that came with my 11 gallon kettle and it drains perfectly, get at least another .75-1 gallon back.

The recipe I used, back on post #7, with my 62qt Bayou Classic pot, shooting for the 5 gallon batch, I started with 8.1 gallons this gave me 7.3 gallons pre-boil and 5.75 post boil with a little over 5 gallons into the fermentor.

Get a pot with a steamer basket for BIAB, it makes lifting the bag out of the water much easier.

I have what might be a silly question, but I am new to BIAB and have been doing all extract brewing to this point. I brewed an extract pumpkin ale and my recipe called for the pumpkin to be added at 60 minutes of the boil with the first hop addition. Is there a reason you have to add the pumpkin in your grain bag when doing BIAB and why couldn't you just add the pumpkin at 60 minutes of the boil like you would in an extract recipe?

MMJfan said:

I have what might be a silly question, but I am new to BIAB and have been doing all extract brewing to this point. I brewed an extract pumpkin ale and my recipe called for the pumpkin to be added at 60 minutes of the boil with the first hop addition. Is there a reason you have to add the pumpkin in your grain bag when doing BIAB and why couldn't you just add the pumpkin at 60 minutes of the boil like you would in an extract recipe?

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if added to the mash you get the fermentable sugars converted along with the starches in the grain. adding to the boil could lead to a very cloudy beer if the pectin sets due to boiling. not to mention that'd be a hell of a mess in the kettle to siphon around .

I second mashing with the pumpkin instead. I've read plenty of posts from people who had a nightmare trying to get their beer to clear after boiling the pumpkin. Haven't tried it myself but after everything I've read I don't think I want to.

I didn't have too much of a problem. That's why I brought up the question.

I just poured my wort (pumpkin puree and all) from my kettle to my fermentor, aerated it, pitched the yeast and let it sit for 2 weeks. Then after 2 weeks, all of the trub had settled to the bottom and I racked it from my fermentor to a carboy. I did end up with about a gallon of trub but I accounted for that in my boil to leave me with about 6 gal. total to rack in the fermentor. The beer cleared pretty nicely in the secondary vessel and there was hardly any trub when I went to rack from the carboy to the bottling bucket. Oh, and the pumpkin ale I made is arguably one of the best I've ever had including store bought pumpkin ales...

So... made the pumpkin beer Friday night. Smelled amazing the whole time I cooked it! Started with 9 gallons and ended with like 6.5-7 gallons! My FG was 1.054, which was a HUGE miss from the 1.062 I was hoping for, but I believe it was due to a few factors. 1) The extra gallon or so of wort I ended up with, 2) The grain could have been milled a little finer, 3) I think I'm still missing my strike temp due to thermometer problems. Missed my mash temp, was mashing around 152 and was aiming for 154-156. Kind of disappointed for the OG for 15lbs of grain, but oh well. Have to fine tune my skills. Open to any suggestions.

P.S. - My buddy belives I have missed my OG on this beer and two priors due to the BIAB process, although a lot of other brewers are doing perfect with it. Anyone have recommendations on thermometers? I believe this is my main problem. I have two Taylor's and one will read 177 and another will read 152, while an old fashion Mercury thermometer reads 150... So any suggestions besides Taylor!

I use three different thermometers: a digital pocket-size one, an old-fashion floating one, and a bremometer. If you're getting a wide range of variation among your temperatures, you need to calibrate or get new ones. Who knows what temp you're actually mashing at.

As for BIAB, your buddy's just flat out wrong. Keep honing your technique -- once you dial in how much strike water, controlling your (correct) mash temp, and controlling your boil, you will start seeing better results. Brewing is a skill and an art -- it takes time and practice. The good news is that you are making beer all along the way!

Chris7687 said:

So... made the pumpkin beer Friday night. Smelled amazing the whole time I cooked it! Started with 9 gallons and ended with like 6.5-7 gallons! My FG was 1.054, which was a HUGE miss from the 1.062 I was hoping for, but I believe it was due to a few factors. 1) The extra gallon or so of wort I ended up with, 2) The grain could have been milled a little finer, 3) I think I'm still missing my strike temp due to thermometer problems. Missed my mash temp, was mashing around 152 and was aiming for 154-156. Kind of disappointed for the OG for 15lbs of grain, but oh well. Have to fine tune my skills. Open to any suggestions.

P.S. - My buddy belives I have missed my OG on this beer and two priors due to the BIAB process, although a lot of other brewers are doing perfect with it. Anyone have recommendations on thermometers? I believe this is my main problem. I have two Taylor's and one will read 177 and another will read 152, while an old fashion Mercury thermometer reads 150... So any suggestions besides Taylor!

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My taylor thermometer was off 11 degrees. Its now a table ornament. I bought the thermal industries oven thermometr/timer and waterproofed the probe with heast shrink tubing and silicone tubing. Its now my mash thermometer.

you're missing you OG because you had to much wort. hone the process and you'll get it nailed. first thing to do is learn how much you boil off in 60 minutes. and I mean EXACTLY how much you boil off. If you want to hit numbers, you have to have a way of measuring exact volumes. it can be a sight glass, or a spoon/stick that is marked in half gallon increments. if the recipe called for 5.5 gallons post boil and you had 6.5-7 gallons that would throw your numbers way off.

once you learn the boil off, learn how much you lose to trub in the kettle. then use this formula

batch size + boil off + trub loss + absorption = water needed.
absorption can be determined by grain weight * .066 = absorption. you can adjust that number up or down as needed until you get your desired volume each time. I squeeze the hell out of the bag so I use a lower number. Some don't squeeze very much or at all and will use a higher number.

as far as your buddies, they're wrong. BIAB is just a different process for AG brewing and once you learn your equipment and process you'll be making incredible beers while hitting your numbers each time.

Thanks for the responses. Was thinking If I come up short/or purposely start with less water I can sparge the bag with water to get my preboil water amount. What are everyones thoughts on this?

kmos said:

+1

I brewed this last weekend and man was it heavy.

FWIW, on the thread for this recipe there are a few posts about folks doing it BIAB. I followed their suggestions and put the Libby's pumpkin puree in a separate bag and let it steep while the water was heating up to strike temp. It left it with a beautiful orange color. Then I just mashed as normal.

I also did not use rice hulls (I figured since I wasn't sparging like in a conventional all-grain batch, I didn't need them). I just used a really fine-mesh bag. Seemed to work out OK for me.

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I assume you keep the pumpkin in for the duration of the mash correct?

Also what is a good water profile to target for a pumpkin ale such as this? I start with 100% ro

Bump for help